Salad Is Slaughter

I’ve been getting dozens of hits every day from people looking for Viandante del Cielo (Luke Skywalker) wine, mentioned here and here.

Guys, it’s not that good.  It’s a chardonnay that’s at best, drinkable.  It’s nothing special, really over-priced, tastes like apple juice, has no finish, and is kind of ordinary.  Take the money you would like to send to Geoge Lucas and spend it instead on a nice bottle of Cakebread Russian River Chardonnay.

It’s been a real ass-grinder of a week.  We’ve been swamped at work trying to get new software ready for deployment on March 1, a date that cannot change.  I’m waiting for the new version to be installed so I can test some more.  Looks like I’m working on Saturday.

Janet was in Las Vegas for meetings this week, and that left me babysitting.  It was kind of stressful.  On Tuesday it was raining like hell.  On Tuesday after work I was doing some stuff on the computer.  I noticed Rolfe in the hallway as I walked into the bedroom.  I then smelled poop.  Rolfe had taken a dump on Lisa’s bed.  Laundry time. 

I was talking to Janet on the phone about 9, walking around the house as we spoke.  I smelled poop.  Rolfe had used the living room as a bathroom (again).

Later, I took the dogs out to pee about 10 o’clock during a deluge.  Rolfe kept running back into the house.  I thought he had peed but how could you tell?  I brought him upstairs, put him on the bed, and proceeded to get ready for bed.  I heard him pee.  I yelled for him to stop, and he did.  Rolfe then jumped down to the floor and finished his business.  Clean-up time.

On Wednesday morning I woke up, took the dogs down to pee, and brought everyone back up.  When I got out of the shower I discovered that one of the dogs — probably Rolfe — had thrown up on one of the dog beds.  It smelled really bad and clean up was not pleasant.

Wednesday I came home from work, fed the dogs, gave Jake his insulin shot, and returned to work.  I arrived home about 8:30 that night, relaxed a bit, and then got everyone ready for bed.  Just like every other night I took the dogs out for their last pee of the day.  I put Rolfe on the bed and lay down.  Rolfe started crying.  I figured that he had to go pee again so I took him down stairs to the back yard.  Nope, he didn’t want to pee, he wanted to run back into the house.

We went back up stairs and got back into bed.  Rolfe started crying again.  He was also chewing quite a bit.  I figured that he was teething (he’s only 13 weeks old) so I gave him a chew toy.  That shut him up for a while then he started crying again.  Then I heard liquid hitting the bed.  Rolfe had peed on the bed for the second night in a row.

Janet came back last night, and luckily there were no more accidents.  I think we’re nearly out of Nature’s Miracle so I’d better pick some more up this weekend at puppy class.  I’d better check on the paper towel supply, too.  Damn it’s been a stressful week.

I made reservations at Le Papillon several weeks ago for 6:30 PM on Valentines Day.  They called back later and asked if we could move to 7:00.  I said sure, and they called back a couple of days ago to confirm my 7:00 PM reservation.  We got to the restaurant at 7:00, announced our presence, sat down in the bar, and ordered some champagne.  Thirty minutes went by.  People who came in after us were seated.  I was not amused and I was tempted to walk out and go someplace else next weekend.  I asked what the problem was.  Turns out that they had our reservation down for 7:30, not 7:00.  At this point I was not happy.

The delay did give me an opportunity to watch people come in, ask if there were any openings, and get turned away.  At least 4 couples came in without reservations and asked to be seated.  Not a chance.  Same for the people who called in.  There were no openings on February 14.

Dinner made up for the screwed up reservation.  Janet had the Dungeness Crab Soufflé with Lemon, Saffron and Caviar while I started with the Tian of Maine Lobster with Mango, Avocado, Miso Vinaigrette and Mache.  Both were excellent.  I like my selection a bit more than Janet’s choice, and she liked her’s better than mine.

Lobster Bisque with a Sweet Corn Timbale was our second course.  Le Papillon has one of the best lobster bisques around and corn goes amazingly well with lobster.  This dish is reason alone to go to Le Papillon.

For the third course Janet had Noisettes of Red Deer with Cabernet-Truffle Reduction, and a Parsnip Tart and I had Roasted Pheasant Breast with Cognac Jus and Porcini Mushrooms.  It was the first time that I had eaten pheasant, and I enjoyed it immensely. 

Dessert was Soufflé Grand Marnier “For Two”.  The waiter brought out a bowl full of extra fruit so we could get all of the sauce.

We’ve been to Le Papillon three times now.  The first time I thought it was great, the second time a bit disappointing food and not-very-good service.  The third time the food and the service were both excellent.

We took Rolfe with the other dogs on Saturday for his first walk.  It’s a bit sooner than the vet recommended, but we were careful that he didn’t come into contact with possibly contaminated fecal material.  He did pretty well for his first time.  I was in the lead with Lisa and Sammi, and Rolfe wanted to stay up with them.  We also signed him up for puppy class.  We’ve got class every Sunday for the next eight weeks.

We spent much of yesterday puppy-proofing the back yard.  Today is the first time that Rolfe is alone in the back yard with the rest of the family while we are at work.  Last week Janet could work from home so she could keep an eye on Rolfe, but that’s not possible today.  We spent yesterday trimming back plants that could be poisonous if eaten by a dog and putting chicken wire in front of things like wires to the sprinklers that he might chew.  Rolfe chewed through a phone line in Janet’s office last week, so we know he has a history of doing that.

The little guy is learning fast.  He knows that when Jake gets his insulin shot that treats for everyone follow.  He’s also fast.  There were several times yesterday I swore that he was across the yard.  I started walking toward the garage and he’d be right behind me.  I can have any combination of canine shadows when I’m walking someplace:  a yellow shadow (Sammi) and two black shadows (Lisa and Rolfe).

Now if Rolfe would just remember that the living room is not a good place to pee and poop, we’d have something.

I went to Chef Wang’s in Los Altos for lunch today.  They’ve got a new menu but I opted to try a dish from the specials board.  Their Orange Chicken is really, really good.  I talked to the owner and she said that it was a new recipe that she had just developed.  She was told that Americans probably wouldn’t like it because it’s got a lot of orange flavor but she went with it anyway. 

I’m glad she did because it’s great.  It has a really intense orange flavor with some spiciness added.  I will definitely get it again.  I told her that if she ever has a question about whether she should introduce a new dish, I’d be more than happy to be a taste-tester, and I wouldn’t even charge her for the service.